my pup has naver mothered as a little baby or not
is this not a good thing the only time he will get hold of any thing is he rag toy and i say moms and he will let go of it
he has never been a mouther and i dont think he will even do it if i tryed with him

cos i read theis sticky and it says that it is good for them to lurn how hard there r doin it but what do u do if your pup wont do it at all

my 1yr2mth male is extremely sensitive to biting. He has never broken skin or hurt, and we wrestle, and play fight all the time. When he was a baby I would wrestle with him, and when he mouthed me I would let him until he applied too much pressure, then I would stop playing with him. Most of the time when he was young I would just lay on the bed and play with him....anyway, he eventually got that he wasn't allowed play time if he was rough, so now he's gentle. We continue to play with him, and i'll let him mouth me, but he is never allowed to mouth my daughters. No rough playing with them, no mouthing, and soooo he has learned that when kids are around he is to lay down. He'll watch them ride their bikes, run around with friends, and he lays there. He doesn't chase or anything, and he isn't allowed to take food from them unless they are giving treats. I did a lot of what this article says, except walking out the room, and I would say it has worked for me, so thanks PBF for letting me know that I am doing right by my bully.

I have tried most of the things in here, but I don't think I am giving it enough time. I have to realize that this takes time. I just get upset when he actually does do the biting and there really isn't anything that is working. Hopefully in time he will realize what he is doing actually hurts and slowly stop the biting altogether.

I have a 10 month old puppy who was seperated from his mother very young( 5 weeks by crappy fake breeders) he was very mouthy but by being consistent and saying no which he understood and saying "no, kisses" he has gradually replaced mouthing with kisses 100% he will only mouth when i playfight with him which i do less and less. He never does it with strangers, kids, or even my wife.

I know you guys say not to worry about mouthing at 8 weeks, but what about when it's not just playful mouthing, and starts seeming aggressive?

My pup like to bit pant legs, shoes, hands, and arms. But when I try to correct him, he backs up and growls (it's a pretty deep growl to be so young). Then he starts lunging at you and snapping. Yes, snapping. You can actually hear his jaws snap together.

Occasionally you'll hear this growling and snapping during play. You tell him no, say "ouch!", and walk away. He'll sit there while you look away from him, then to reward him you begin to play again, only to have him repeat the snapping again. This can go on for half an hour easily. It's like it doesn't register with him.

Should I be worried? I like to play with him, but play time is almost 100% biting. He doesn't take affection well, as he just looks at it as another opportunity to mouth. The only time he actually settles down to be given affection is when he is exhausted. It only lasts for a few minutes, then he's out cold!

One more question ... when a dog bites a litter mate, and that litter mate yelps and goes of to lick his wounds, doesn't that immediately put the biting dog in control over the other dog? If the goal is to be a dog's authority figure (pack leader, if you will), then how does yelping and waling away accomplish that? Wouldn't it be better to challenge him, bite him back, or correct him in some way? I just don't think playing the part of the hurt runt puppy and taking your ball and going home helps accomplish the goal of becoming your dog's superior.

I correct him in 1 of 2 ways. Either I give him a physical touch on his shoulder ... firm, but not hitting him, or I spray him with a squirt bottle.

The squirt bottle is a hassle, because I don't always have it with me, but it's the only thing that really works. When he sees it, he immediately turns away and stops the behavior. But I would like to be able to physically correct him in public, as I can't always have a squirt bottle handy.

But when I touch to correct, he gets more aggressive. He bears his teeth, barks, and snaps. If you're not careful, he'll get your arm. If he does succeed at biting, I'll usually roll him on his side and hold him there firmly. The thing is, he never relaxes. I've heard that's a bad sign in pups, when they won't submit to being rolled on their back. But he's sending mixed signals, as he will roll on his back on his own sometimes when he wants his belly scratched. I can't tell if this is a dominance competition or something else!

It's really not getting any better. I don't think he's scared, because when he gets scared, he runs and hides. If this is play, then it's unacceptable play. Hoe do I get him to understand that???

My girl is good at not biting, just when shes playing with he uncle at home she gets a bit excited. but as soon as she sees me pointing at her she knows!!!
Im so glad im passed that tiny tiny stage where they have sharp little puppy teeth and bite everything

This thread is excellent. I got max at 7 weeks. He has been a great puppy but can get a little carried away. I think I made the mistake of playing with him too much for the first two weeks. I got him right after xmas and we played and had some epic battles. He would bite and it didn't "hurt hurt" so I just kept playing. Now he is like that with everyone and I need to get him to calm down.

I have seen a few others that are similar ages that i've seen grow out it by week 12-14. I have noticed he has gotten much better but by reading here I can see i've been making the mistake of putting him in his crate when he would act up. He never seemed to have a problem with his crate and sleeps in it quite comfortably.

We'll see how it goes. I have him starting a basic training program at PetSmart on Wednesday and I have a list of questions for the trainer. hahahaha

My dog is 8 months and neutered. I read this article months ago and followed it's suggestions. For the most part it has worked, although my dog can still be mouthy when seeing me first thing in the morning and when I return home after work.

The worst part is it usually involves jumping and biting, not too hard, but not too soft! It's not aggressive at all, just 100% excited. Luckily his worse with me than anyone else. But he still occassionally bites at ppl when meeting them. Which really freaks them out.

My 8 month old is not very mouthy but when I do "play-fight" with her she does get nippy and very into it. It is a process to calm her down, but I think the article will help a lot. When I got her people at my job thought it was cute for her to bite their chins and such - so when I got her she nipped me and my boyfriend pretty hard we actually got cut. So, I got her out of it by teaching her "kisses". When I put my face close to hers, I would start making the kissing sound which prompted licking and I added the word kisses so that when I would go to her face, biting was not in her little head anymore. It worked very well but she still likes to grab clothes or hands - not hard but it is irritating, so again thanks for the article on how to teach off.

if he bit me hard, i bit him. Just like they say to do woth a toddler. So they know it hurts. I never bit him hard. Just put my teeth to him and put a little pressure. He doesn't bite now.

I laughed when I read this. It sounds funny, but you are right. I does work. I forgot that my husband did that with our mix breed dog. It stopped him also. I think we should try that with our pitbull Nava.

I am SO relieved to read this. I thought I just had a very difficult puppy but alot of the people here have exactly the same problem as I do. When I say ouch and turn around she just skips off and finds something else to do. she also feels the need to chew on EVERYTHING she sees. We sometimes call her "evil spawn, annihilator of everything dead and alive" but I can tell that all in all she's a great pup